Manchester United star suffers potential World Cup injury nightmare in nation’s final pre-tournament friendly

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Morocco have been handed a potential double injury blow less than a week before their World Cup opener.Noussair Mazraoui was forced off just 29 minutes into their friendly with Norway on Sunday evening.Mazraoui was forced off against Norway after suffering a first-half injury scareGettyThe match is the 2022 semi-finalists’ final warm-up fixture before they begin their group stage campaign.Mazraoui was withdrawn during the first half at the Sports Illustrated Stadium in New Jersey.The Manchester United defender had gone down feeling some discomfort before he was replaced by Youssef Belammari.It is currently unclear the severity of the issue, with the decision to substitute Mazraoui potentially a precaution.His injury scare comes six days before Morocco face Brazil in their first match in group C on Saturday, June 13.Mazraoui has scored twice in 45 caps for his country since making his debut aged 20 back in 2018.Those caps include five appearances at the previous World Cup four years ago.Meanwhile, he was also part of the side which won the Africa Cup of Nations on home soil earlier this year.Double injury blowIn another potential blow to the Atlas Lions, Abde Ezzalzouli went was forced off after colliding with team-mate Chadi Riad.The Real Betis winger stayed down before being replaced by Soufiane Rahimi at half-time.Mazraoui was part of the Morocco side which reached the semi-finals in 2022AFPMorocco had been leading Norway 1-0 at the break thanks to Brahim Diaz‘s eighth-minute strike.Manager Mohamed Ouahbi is able to call up one injury replacement to his final World Cup squad if a player is ruled out of the tournament.However, this can only be done up to 24 hours before his side’s opening fixture.The injury replacement can also only be called upon from the pool of players who were named in Ouahbi’s 55-man provisional squad.When do Morocco play next?Group C also includes both Scotland and Haiti, with Morocco facing the former in Foxborough, Massachusetts on June 19.They then conclude their group stage campaign against Haiti five days later.Ezzalzouli was also taken off during Morocco’s friendly against Norway on SundayAFPMorocco will be looking to emulate their historic performance at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.Their fourth-place finish saw them become the first African team ever to reach the semi-finals of the tournament.World Cup WhatsAppDon't miss an update from talkSPORT in our dedicated World Cup WhatsApp channel.Search for ‘talkSPORT World Cup’ in your ‘Updates’ tab on WhatsApp and we’ll drop the proper, unfiltered football chat straight to your lock screen—no fluff, just pure talkSPORT energy.It’s where you’ll find out all the new rules to watch out for, England and Scotland reaction and big match player ratings. Plus there will be loads of debates on the biggest talking points as Haaland, Mbappe, Kane and the biggest names in football descend on America, Canada and Mexico.